UPDATED, 5:26 PM: The two largest station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, wielded their influence over ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show from its ABC stations.
Their announcements on Wednesday come amid the furor over host’s comments about the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination, with the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, threatening some kind of FCC action. Watch Kimmel’s comments here.
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In a statement, Nexstar said, “Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show. Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
Nexstar’s announcement was followed soon after by ABC’s decision to pull the show indefinitely.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest of ABC’s affiliate groups, said that it also objected to Kimmel’s comments, and said that it would “not lift the suspension of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.” It also called on Kimmel to make a direct apology to the Kirk family, and for the network to make a “meaningful donation” to them and Turning Point USA.
“Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform,” the company said. The company also said that a tribute to Kirk will air on ABC stations in Kimmel’s time slot on Friday.
Both Nexstar and Sinclair have been lobbying the FCC over regulatory issues.
Nexstar, the largest station group in the country, also has a major merger before the Trump administration, its proposed acquisition of Tegna, creating a mega-company with 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, representing 80% of U.S. TV households. Nexstar also is a leading champion in the broadcast industry for the FCC to relax media ownership limits, something necessary to get its deal through regulatory approval. Nexstar owns 32 ABC affiliates out of a total of 200 stations.
Sinclair also is seeking deregulation, and in its statement, it praised Carr. “We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks,” Sinclair said.
The Walt Disney Co., the owner of ABC, also will need the Trump administration’s greenlight for ESPN’s deal to buy the NFL Network, with the league taking a 10% stake in the sports division.
Kimmel said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
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On Tuesday, authorities charged Tyler Robinson, 22, in Kirk’s killing, along with a series of other charges. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said that Robinson’s mother said her son “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented.” Gray said that when Robinson’s father asked his son why he did it, Robinson “explained that there was too much evil, and the guy, referring to Charlie Kirk, spreads too much hate.”
Hours before the announcements from Nexstar and ABC, Carr appeared on Benny Johnson’s podcast and blasted Kimmel’s remark, calling it “some of the sickest conduct possible.” He also threatened some kind of action by the agency.
“There are avenues here for the FCC, so there are some ways in which I need to be a little careful, because I could be called wholly to become a judge on some of these claims that come up,” Carr said.
He added, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or these companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
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Later, appearing on Fox News’ Hannity, Carr praised Sinclair and Nexstar, calling their action “unprecedented.”
“I can’t imagine another time when we’ve had local broadcasters tell what we call a national programmer like Disney that your content no longer meets the needs and the values of our community,” he said. “So, this is a important turning point.”
The FCC licenses broadcast stations, not networks, so Nexstar, which aired the Kimmel remarks, would potentially come under the agency’s scrutiny in any investigation.
The FCC states on its own website that it has limited legal authority over programming. “Pursuant to these legal mandates, the FCC has long held that ‘the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views,’” the FCC states. “Rather than suppress speech, communications law and policy seeks to encourage responsive ‘counter-speech’ from others. Following this principle ensures that the most diverse and opposing opinions will be expressed, even though some views or expressions may be highly offensive.”
But Disney, Paramount and other major companies have made the calculation that, even though they may be on solid legal footing, they would settle with Trump and his administration to avoid protracted legal or regulatory battles.
In December, before Trump took office for a second term, ABC settled his defamation lawsuit against the network, over comments made by George Stephanopoulos on This Week, for $16 million. Paramount Global settled Trump’s lawsuit against CBS, over the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris, for the same amount. Weeks later, Skydance secured regulatory approval of its merger with Paramount, after committing to hiring an ombudsman for CBS News.
Nexstar has been one of the major advocates among station groups for the FCC to eliminate a rule that limits companies from owning stations that collectively reach no more than 39% of U.S. households.
ABC is not its foundational network relationship. The greatest single network represented on the company’s affiliate map is The CW, which was one of the strategic reasons why Nexstar agreed to acquire majority control of the network in 2022.
A desire for bigger-market affiliate stations is one of the drivers of Nexstar’s next big M&A deal, a $6.2 billion proposal to acquire Tegna, whose stable of stations includes a large number of big-market stations, especially NBC, which is especially valuable come NFL season.
The FCC is scheduled to vote on Sept. 30 on whether to launch a public comment period to modify or eliminate the ownership rules.
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